A Paris appeals court has found Airbus and Air France guilty of corporate manslaughter for the 2009 Rio-Paris flight disaster. The ruling orders both corporate giants to pay the maximum statutory fine of €225,000 ($242,000) each.
The decision marks a stunning reversal in a 17-year legal battle over France's worst air disaster, which claimed the lives of all 228 passengers and crew on board Flight AF447. It overturns a controversial 2023 lower court ruling that had acquitted both companies, a decision that deeply angered the families of the victims, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
The initial trial focused heavily on technical failures and pilot error after the aircraft's pitot tubes (speed sensors) froze during a severe mid-Atlantic storm, causing the pilots to lose control and the plane to plunge into the ocean. While the lower court initially ruled that the errors could not be legally tied to criminal negligence, the appeals court determined that both the airline and the manufacturer bore corporate responsibility for failing to adequately address known sensor issues and train pilots for high-altitude emergencies.
While the verdict provides long-sought validation for the families of the mainly French, Brazilian, and German victims, the legal marathon is likely not over. Defense attorneys and French legal experts predict that both companies will launch a final appeal to France’s highest judicial body, the Cour de Cassation.
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